English Wine Week 21st - 29th June! A Celebration of our local growers and producers!

When visiting countries in mainland Europe, it's always heartening to see the focus on enjoying locally produced wines and produce, and here in England we are fortunate to have the expertise and conditions to enable us to enjoy wine of equally good quality when buying local. Sales of English wine have continued to grow over recent years, seeing a 187% increase in sales from 2018 to 2023 with particular emphasis on sparkling wines which are becoming renowned worldwide for being on a par with some of the top Champagnes in France. However wine production in England is not a recent endeavour, and the history of winemaking dates all the way back to when the Romans first conquered. 

The earliest evidence we have of vines being brought to England was in Julius Caesar's time, however it is uncertain whether the vines were for production of wines for consumption, or merely to decorate the land to make the Romans feel more at home. After the fall of the Roman Empire we can see further evidence of vines being present in England in the Doomsday Survey of 1086 which showed 46 productive vineyards in the South East of England. This had increased to 139 by the time Henry VIII became king, with much of the wine produced by monasteries for religious purposes. 

Following Henry VIII's reign, winemaking in England declined, supposedly due to the dissolution of the Catholic Church in England, however many noblemen continued to produce wine on their estates. After this time wine production in England goes fairly quiet, however scientists and botanists in England were working in the 20th Century to find the best varieties and land for growing and it's not until 1955 when we see English wine making a full comeback! 

Production of English wine has grown exponentially since the 60s and today we have over 1030 commercial vineyards producing fantastic wines. We are proud that many of these vineyards are local to us in Somerset, run by families who want to produce world class wines! 

This English Wine Week celebrate by raising a glass to our fantastic English producers. All our English wines can be discovered here.